57-year-old Kenneth McClure, owner of Legends Comics & Cards in St Louis, MO was found shot dead in a field yesterday. However, that’s just the centerpiece of a circle of lurid crime that is TRU ready. McClure had recently been charged with the statutory rape of a 13 year old girl (which took place in the shop, where he lived in the basement), and had held police in a stand-off at the store when they came to arrest him — holding a gun to his head for three hours.

Yesterday, McClure was found slain in a wooded area off the interstate — and the police think that a couple who had ties to both McClure and the victim were the culprits.

The woman had worked at McClure’s store and had been in a relationship with him, said McClure’s nephew, Everett “Sonny” McClure III. She also lived with the male suspect and is related to the mother of the 13-year-old girl who accused Kenneth McClure of rape.

Witnesses report seeing McClure’s stolen Chevrolet Camaro speeding away from a spot where shots were fired. Although the suspects seem to have a motive, the DA has asked for more evidence before asking for an indictment.

On Tuesday, McClure was late for a hearing on his rape trial; it was the search which led to his body being found, leading his lawyer to comment “This is the first time I was waiting for a client and I found out he was murdered while I was waiting.”

McClure gave the ownership of the store to his nephew, Sonny McClure, last week. Some theorize that this was some kind of “assisted-suicide”, as McClure has left a note to his nephew. Others think it’s a revenge killing.

Either way, Sonny McClure’s sad wiping of the counter top captures a sense of the overall misery of this story.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.